A. Lauren Abele

One week, two great events… (Part 1 of 2)

Event 1: BRAC’s Friendraiser

Last Wednesday I headed over to BRAC’s Friendraiser at the Edwynn Houk Gallery. I was invited to the event by my friend Laina–who is always up to good. My hat goes off to the BRAC Host Committee, who organized the free event, as it was truly a great way to introduce new “friends” to the organization’s mission and activities. There were a bunch of things about the event’s structure itself that I really appreciated. Some Friendraising tips to consider for your organization’s next Friendraiser:

Price: The event was free. While fundraising and/or off-setting costs are definitely important and events can be a great opportunity for such a thing, free events are a great way to encourage new attendees. In NYC especially, everything seems to have a dollar sign attached to it.
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Last week I came across an interesting tweet from @kenscommentary (Ken Berger, President of Charity Navigator)– “Too many itsy bitsy nonprofits! Consider this before you leap into teenyness”–and a link to the following article, “Alternatives to Forming a Charitable Nonprofit.”

The article is full of very useful information outlining alternative nonprofit funding options (like fiscal sponsorship or collaborating with an existing nonprofit) and highlights the need for sufficient research to be conducted as well as preparing viability plans.
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The New York Women Social Entrepreneurs (NYWSE) held their first ever Incubator Friendraiser last week. The private event was held at the Bowery Wine Company and was a fundraiser and silent auction for NYWSE’s Incubator Program for budding women social entrepreneurs. The 2009 Incubator Participants were:

• Early Earners – Online education destination for youth and families promoting positive financial habits

• Girl Guides USA – Outdoor program that develops girls’ environmentalism, leadership and teamwork

• Illume – Online mentoring and career resource for young women from illiterate families in India

• Out Against Abuse – Online resource to stop domestic violence in the South Asian community

• Public Stuff – Software to connect government and citizens to improve services and community life

• Start Your Engine – Exercise, nutrition, stress and time management program for low-income women

The event featured a keynote speech by Diana Ayton-Shenker, Founder & CEO of Fast Forward Fund (FFF), a youth-investing-in-youth social venture fund, who spoke the importance of investing in young social entrepreneurs who will become tomorrow’s leaders.

The venue was a-buzz with interesting conversations and was a great opportunity to meet other faces in the world of NYC social entrepreneurship. And, in addition to the great company, the Bowery Wine Company staff were fabulous!

I had the pleasure of helping organize the event and had the opportunity to work with some really fabulous women including Natalia Oberti Noguera (NYWSE Director) and Melissa Osborne (who is off to graduate school this fall! Congrats!).  If you are a woman interested in social entrepreneurship, I highly recommend checking out NYWSE–they have an ever growing community and lots of thoughtful resources for women social entrepreneurs.

If you are considering applying for next year’s Friendraiser, check the NYWSE website for the 2010 Program Applications.

I was introduced to the United Nations Environment Programme Twitter account,@UNEPandYou, last Friday when one of the people I follow, @rogerhamilton tweeted–or I should say re-tweeted:

RT @UNEPandYou: Today is World Environment Day -tweet 4 trees and help us reach 10,000 followers! We’ll plant one tree for every follower

This introduction is clearly not for the internet/social media/tech geek savvy among us…but for the rest of us, and just illustrates how social media works and how effective it can be. Here is a screen shot of @UNEPandYou’s page on Friday June 5th, World Environment Day:

9,752 followers and counting...

@UNEPandYou increased their audience with their “Tweet for Trees” Campaign by providing “match” (in the form of trees) for the number of followers they had at the end of the day. This campaign was a great combination of social media marketing (by utilizing Twitter), constituent engagement (by encouraging their Twitter followers to retweet about their campaign), audience expansion (via many, many retweets), and match (10,000 new trees! Who wouldn’t want to participate?)! Now, at the end of their program, UNEP has: (1) a much larger audience and (2) done some great PR.

For more info on re-tweeting, check this out: “HOW TO: Retweet on Twitter” (via @mashable).